Illinois Valley News

As part of its efforts to solicit public input, the Josephine County Land Development Advisory Committee held a meeting for the community in Cave Junction City Hall Monday night, June 7.

Although the hour-long gathering was sparsely attended, some audience members provided observations to committee members regarding issues that they have had with the land-use and planning process.

The committee“s formation was made possible by passage of House Bill 2229 by the Legislature last year. That bill enables counties to review their land-use codes and potentially eliminate regulations that are more strict than that of the state. Counties also have the ability to examine parcels of land that may have originally been misclassified.

Roger Harada from the planning office said that the county“s rural land development code was last amended in 2006 to adjust for riparian and critical stream habitat issues. He noted that it is not uncommon to have parts of the code be “stagnant“ for years.

“There probably are some areas in our code that can be looked at and adjusted,“ Harada added.

Committee Chairman Harold Haugen, a former longtime Josephine County Commissioner, said that neighboring Jackson County is reviewing its land-use codes and has hired a professional consultant to aid in the process. Klamath County also is conducting a similar review, according to Haugen.

Land-use codes in Josephine County may be more outdated than those of the state“s, he said, because the process takes longer at the county level.

Committee member Jack Swift said that the group is looking to make the planning process more “user friendly.“

O“Brien resident Helen Early, who works as the planning clerk for the city of Cave Junction, said that she owns a 17-acre parcel of “marginal“ land that was created prior to current zoning ordinances. She said that in order to put a house on the property, she would have to prove that she could make $40,000 per year farming on it.

Early added that she could hire specialists and soil experts to help her achieve that aim, but that doing so would be very expensive. She said that the zoning rule became law in 1993, but that she had a permit to put a house on the property prior to that.

Also addressing the committee was Janice Cowan.

Cowan said that she owns two 80-acre parcels of land in Selma zoned for Forestry Commercial that she would someday like to divide. Some of the land grows trees and some doesn“t, she said.

Haugen asked Cowan to submit her testimony in writing so that the committee could have a written record documenting her issues. He said that much of the resource land in the county was zoned that way because of an enforcement order issued by the state. Much of that land is located near Cave Junction, Haugen said.

Committee member Gordon Longhurst said that land-use zoning started in the northern end of the state. Prime farmland in Washington County was under development pressure from Portland, Longhurst said.

“A lot of people got really alarmed,“ he said, and started pushing for statewide zoning. “We were left with the residue of that.“

Longhurst told Cowan that if her parcels of land are contiguous, a lot-line adjustment might be possible.

“There might be a way to adjust it,“ he said.

Cowan stated that there are a series of smaller lots just up the road from her parcels.

Harada said that such non-conforming parcels are the result of “grandfathering,“ and were likely in place prior to the zoning changes. Committee member Jim Frick said that there are “pockets“ of land zoned R-1 (Rural-Residential with 1-acre minimum) throughout Illinois Valley, but that they are hard to develop because they are too small to meet setback and septic system requirements.

The committee“s next meeting is set for 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, June 14 at the county Public Works office, 201 River Heights Way in Grants Pass, between Fairgrounds Road and Ringuette Street.

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